lumber 69 years ago today. now you know the news. for this tuesday september 28, 2010, i'm shepard smith and here comes that guy. >> "the o'reilly factor" is on. tonight. >> the biggest attack ever that took place on our soil. we absorbed and we are stronger. >> president obama said that to bob woodward and now some critics are saying it indicates he's not fully committed to preventing future terrorist attacks. mr. woodward will be here to respond: >> who is this guy? >> i have no idea. >> do you know who this is. >> i have no idea. >> john stossel says some americans should not vote. they're too dumb. stossel will explain. >> the obama administration continues to drop missiles on suspected terrorists even as the aclu and others try to get that

strategy outlawed. is it legal? has been investigated? caution, you are about to enter the "no spin zone." "the factor" begins right now. hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thank you for watching. president obama and war, that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. there's a lively debate about how committed barak obama is to defeating terrorism. some of his critics say he's not nearly aggressive enough in fighting our enemies. but the obama administration is badly damaged al-qaeda and the taliban by using drone missile attacks. in fact, reports today say those attacks are increasing because of al-qaeda threats against western europe. so it's hard to say exactly what kind of passion president obama has for the war on terror. and in an interview with bob woodward, he muddied the waters even further. >> i said very early on as a

senator and continued to believe as a presidential candidate and now as president that we can absorb a terrorist attack. we'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even the 9-11, even the biggest attack, that ever took place on our soil, we absorbed it and we are stronger. this is a strong, powerful country that we live in and our people are incredibly resilient. >> that quote is contained in the new book and the words have drawn anger from those who dislike the president's policies. >> i think that may be the most outrageous thing that's been reported about this book. how can an american president say that as if he's a detached observer and doesn't care about americans dying? >> talking points did not draw that inference from the statement. i think it's a stretch to say the president doesn't care about

americans dying. but there is no question that he's not the terror warrior that president bush was, that he has a hard time making decisions about tough things. the president supporters say that's a good thing, that deliberation is needed when the subject at hand is so complicated. they also say president bush bungled iraq because he did not spend enough time analyzing the theater. but the essential question is, does president obama have the heart to defeat vicious enemies like al-qaeda and the taliban? will he take the necessary action that some in his party oppose? right now that question remains unanswered with the afghan war hanging in the balance. that's a memo. top story, let's bring in bob woodward. he's the author of the best seller "obama's war." was there anything surrounding that that gives us more context to it? >> no. i went to check and see if he had said that before and it turns out he had not. now, there is -- this country is strong, we could deal with

another terrorist attack. what is bizarre is for the president of the united states to say it, it would be like the head of goldman sachs going out and saying, we can absorb another financial crisis. >> what was the point? you were talking to him one on one and he makes that statement to prove to you what? you already know the country is resilient. >> i think as the book lays out in excruciating detail, the president is living in a sea of warnings about future terrorist attacks from yemen, from pakistan, you name it, and my interpretation? he's trying to be realistic and lays the ground work -- >> in case we get hit. >> he's been lucky. >> every morning he gets the briefings and every morning, there is more threats, so he's insecure and says look, even if it happens, we'll survive it. i didn't see anything wrong with the statement, i have to be honest. in reading your book, one of the interesting things is the

tension between vice president obama -- i'm sorry. vice president biden and president obama. okay? over afghanistan. and biden -- first of all, let's define their relationship. does obama trust biden? >> he seems to. in the interview i did for this book, i pressed the president, did in the debate about the afghan war, did biden go too far as sometimes people think he did? and the president was emphatic and said no, i want him laying out options and alternatives. >> so he did. you believe that the president trusts joe biden. he's there to give him experience, to give him a different point of view, and that obama does listen to him? >> i think there is a difference between trust and wanting someone to express their views. he wants to hear them. i think what i found in all of this is that barak obama trusts

his own ability to identify the issues and in the afghan war, he actually designed the strategy. >> obama thinks he's the smartest guy in the room? >> yeah. >> allall right. but does he trust biden in the sense he would confide in biden? >> yes. clearly there are all kinds of scenes in the book where biden comes on the eve of the troop decision in afghanistan, actually shows up at the white house early and says to the president, if you don't limit the war and the definition of what we're trying to do, we're locked into vietnam. >> so biden comes at it from vietnam because he obviously experienced that and obama did not. >> yes. >> all right. and there is, to obama's credit, some parallels to vietnam in the corruption aspect, the aspect there isn't a solid government in afghanistan, or wasn't in south vietnam. but obama sees himself as the smartest guy in the room.

he's going to make the final call. he must have known, though, that by waiting as long as he did to provide the 30,000 troops that mccrystal at the time was wanting, that he looked weak, that he looked weak to the world. he didn't know what to do. >> actually the military wasn't requesting a general mccrystal didn't ask for those troops until this year. so there was no delay because there was this month long debate that -- actually went on for almost three months. >> the public perceived that he was dragging his feet, president obama, on that troop decision. >> i think what's interesting in this, and in the book, there are 60 pages, 70 pages of literal verbatim quotes from obama and his advisors in the secret meetings debating what to do and you can see how obama's mind really works. >> how does it work? is he a warrior? is he saying, look, i'm going to

kick their butt like paton would no matter what it takes, i'm going to ram it down their throat? >> that's exactly the question and the answer is no. he's an intellectual. if you look at this and you realize if you take what he says and it's repeated, you say, i do not want a ten-year plan. i'm not doing ten years. >> clearly -- >> he wants out. >> who wouldn't? >> yeah. >> who wouldn't want out of that mess? we're spending billions of dollars over there and getting our people killed. who wouldn't? but here is the deal, once you fight, you have to fight to win. you have to fight to win. a lot of americans, including me, are not sure he has the heart for the fight. >> it's a fair question. when you look at the record here that's presented in this book, the x factor that never comes out, he never -- when i asked him, i said, you can't lose a war while you're president. he said, well, i don't look in

terms of winning a war or losing a war on my watch. i want the country to be in a better position. now, as you know, if you ask that question to george bush, he'd jump in his chair and say, i want to win. >> we have to win. >> the question here, and i say it's unanswered at this point -- does the president, because intellectually knows afghanistan is a hard case, as he repeatedly says, i've been dealt a bad hand. >> he hasn't been dealt -- history dealt the country a bad hand. it's not about obama. it's about america. let me stop you there for a minute. i'm going to -- i want to hold you over. i want to compare president obama to president bush on how they waged war, what their mentality was. bob woodward, will be back in a moment. we'll have polling on the latest obama afghanistan situation. john stossel coming up. he says some people are so stupid, they shouldn't be allowed to vote. he'll be here to explain in just

a moment.

>> bill: continuing with our lead story is president obama an effective terror warrior. a poll asked, do you approve or disapprove? 48 approve. 41% do not. according to the poll, do you approve of the way he's handling foreign policy in general, 45% say they approve. 44% dead heat do not. joining us, bob woodward, author of a book. you wrote four books on bush going to war. so i mean, i assume you know bush going to war. so contrast the two men. we just talked about barak obama. let's talk about bush. the rap on bush was that he was a gut player. he made decision on his gut. but i don't know what that means. he had a whole bunch of guys around him like cheney, donald rumsfeld, his father, colin powell. these kinds of people who really

knew the world. did he not listen to them? did he listen to them? >> to a certain extent and he weighed it, but he was focused on the threat and he was -- he also was focused in the iraq war, which president bush launched, he told me in one of these interviews, said, i believe we have a duty to free people and i think that was really the driver. thought he was going to liberate iraq. >> bill: so he looked at it as a noble cause to go to a foreign country and liberate these people from saddam hussein. but again, that was after the weapons of mass destruction didn't show up. obama doesn't see a world like that. he doesn't think we have an obligation to liberate anybody, does he? >> i think that's quite correct and i think he is focused on domestic policy and he keeps saying in these meetings, as goes on and on, for instance, after he's decided to send 30,000 troops to afghanistan, he says, nothing would make rahm

happier, that being rahm emanuel, his white house chief of staff, than if i said no to 30,000. in other words, the political people in the obama white house are very much against adding more -- >> bill: they're democrats, they want to get the hell out of there. but what about hillary clinton? what about her, because she comes across as hawkish. she comes across as a terror warrior. is that posture? does obama care what she says? >> well, she aligned herself with secretary of defense gates and the military, supported them even more to a certain extent than gates did. they talked about the five blocks of granite, the three generals and admiral and gates and hillary and they just said, 40,000 troops and in a sense, an

unlimited counter insurgency strategy, which is what general petraeus wanted. >> bill: just win the war. now, you correct me if i am wrong. my gut instinct, and i have this not on anything other than gut -- is that barak obama doesn't listen to hillary clinton. she is not a major shaper in what he does or doesn't do. >> that is absolutely correct. and political people in the white house were quite annoyed that she aligned herself with the military in such a dramatic way. i wanted to get to something -- you really need to make a distinction on the fight against al-qaeda, which as we know is in pakistan, not afghanistan, obama has been very aggressive and i think we're going to see in coming weeks more aguesssive acts, not just drone attacks, helicopter attacks. i quote leon panetta, the country director saying, we need

to get boots on the ground, troops in pakistan to attack -- >> bill: does obama trust panetta? >> yeah, i think he does. >> bill: does he rely on him? >> i think he's very serious advisor in all of this. now, you have to separate the war on terror and al-qaeda, which is the core goal in obama's strategy and in his head from the afghan war. >> bill: there is only one problem with that. that al-qaeda and the taliban are merged together, that if the taliban emerges victorious, than al-qaeda comes back to the sanctuary it had pre9-11. >> that could happen. but we have so many troops in the book, i lay out this new secret army the c.i.a. has. 3,000 man army that. is a potent force, very best trained afghans under the control of the c.i.a. with all the intelligence gathering apparatus, all the

troops we have here. >> bill: but we're not cutting them down yet. i think we will. last question, obama really -- you left it at the end of the book where he wasn't that thrilled with you. he just said hey, bob, we'll see you around. >> yeah. he said -- started the interview, you're on the clock. but at the end, i was surprised he said to me, you had better sources than i do. >> bill: that's not good. >> that's not confidence building. and then he said, have you ever thought of being director of national intelligence or director of the c.i.a.? >> bill: he told me did i ever think about playing in the nba. that's what the guy does. bob woodward. it's a top inch read. thank you. >> thank you. >> bill: president obama lashes fox news in a rolling stone magazine. what is he doing in rolling stone? didn't they kill his general? later, the obama administration assassinating suspected terrorists. is it legal?

the ladies have been investigating, upcoming.

>> bill: for some reason, president obama giving an interview to rolling stone magazine, the same publication that ripped up his top commander in afghanistan, general stanley mccrystal. that confuses me a bit. why would the president talk to rolling stone when it did his administration so much damage? the white house gave us a statement, quote, rolling stone isn't the only outlet the president has ever spoken with in which we didn't agree with every article they have written or broadcast. that's a bit convoluted and great ma'amcally incorrect, but it's a sitle shot at us. in the article, one of the most provocative quotes is about fox. it's a point of view i disagree with, says the president. it's a point of view that's

ultimately destructive for the growth of the country. the president doesn't really explain how it's hurting the middle class, or they didn't publish the explanation. dr. monica crowley. why are you hurting the middle class? can you stop it? >> thank you for laying it on me. >> bill: you're here. >> look, obama has a certain point of view. the people on fox news, certainly there is a narrative that's not pro obama. the hosts generally do not like him. they speak out against his policies and he doesn't believe that those points of view are best for the country. that's basically -- >> bill: how on earth is fox news hurting the middle class? >> he feels that the policies espoused by the hosts of fox news who don't agree -- >> bill: can you give me an example? >> okay. host after host on this network talks against his health care plan, host after host -- on a

number of his policies, we have hosts who don't agree with him. he feels otherwise. >> bill: he thinks that his policies help the middle class and if you oppose them, you're hurting the middle class? >> barak obama is a radical progressive, but he's not a stupid man and i have not been able to figure out for the life of me why he directly, the president of the united states, not some flunky, not his chief of staff, rahm emanuel, the president of the united states continues with this theme, not only demonizing fox news, demonizing the tea party, talk radio, anybody who disagrees with him. >> bill: wait. >> is not seen as patriotic. >> bill: let's put ourselves in his burken stocks. if you have a network, okay, that is far and away more -- provides more scrutiny of him --

you got to compare fox news to what's going on on the other networks. the other networks still love him. they're a little more skeptical than they used to be, but they love him. >> they're licking his boots. >> bill: 50% of the fox news commentators don't like him, so of course he's going to say, what's the matter with those people? everybody else loves me. >> here is the problem. first of all, i think he's a increasickist to the point he's thin skinned. secondly, the president of the united states is supposed to represent all americans. even those who disagree with him. would you ever in your life have seen george w. bush, criticize msnbc? >> bill: i tried to get them to do that and he wouldn't. but i got to to be honest, he didn't know what was happening over there. believe me. he didn't even know what was going on over there. he didn't pay attention. >> it demeans the office of the president when he is singling out a certain news organization

for a particular criticism. >> bill: this rolling stone, they got this mccrystal guy. so i'm saying to myself, if obama liked mccrystal and thought he was a good man and his whole career is ruined, mccrystal, down the drain, guy is fired because of this magazine, why on earth do you give the magazine an interview a few months later? >> because obama is in the -- contrary to what dr. crowley said, he's not afraid to stand up to publications. >> bill: why would you do that? >> because he wants to spread the wealth. he wants to spread the wealth. he wants to speak not only to those outlets that agree with him, just like he stood up to the republican leadership and did very well. he doesn't -- >> bill: this doesn't have anything to do with it. it doesn't matter. it's rolling stone. rolling stone kills his main general in afghanistan and a few months later, there he is on the

cover going, hi. >> he's also trying to get the youth vote. >> bill: the youth vote. >> the younger people -- >> bill: why doesn't he talk with lady gaga. do a few lines. >> that would be a great move. >> bill: why is he doing that? >> that's harry reid touring with her. look, rolling stone is a reliably far left publication. obama knows he wasn't going to get real tough questions. he knew he was going to get the kid glove treatment. >> bill: did he get tough questions? >> unlike if he came here, and wait a minute. i think alan is on to something. he has a serious problem going into november. the liberal base reads rolling stone. that's why he we want there. >> bill: still, i mean, i feel bad for stanley mccrystal. this guy was a warrior, this guy was a patriot. he helped his country -- the magazine kills him and the commander in chief is on the cover. >> look what he did.

>> bill: that's not a bad point. he might have made some mistakes, but he didn't make them out of malice. >> he deserved to keep his job after what he puts down the commander in chief to rolling stone magazine? >> bill: does he deserve it? >> i just heard general mccrystal two days ago speak, part of a pretty small group. he's an american patriot. he nearly gave his life many, many times over for think why. this magazine killed him and the commander in chief -- >> bill: i thought it was bad taste. plenty more as "the factor" moves along. are some americans too dumb to vote? john stossel will put forth that case. and then charles krauthammer on a poll that fox news dominating election coverage in america. not rolling stone. we hope you stay tuned for those reports.

been .

>> steve: you may remember this ad during the 2008 presidential campaign. >> please just don't vote. don't vote, don't vote. >> seriously, don't. >> you don't care. >> what's the point. don't. >> don't vote. >> don't vote really. >> this is one of the biggest financial disasters in american history. why would you vote? why would you vote? >> who cares? the economy is in the toilet. i don't care. i got so much money. >> bill: that ad was intended to get the vote out, but it does bring up a question, are some americans too dumb to vote?

john stossel explored that. >> so who is this guy? >> looks like tom brokaw. >> who is this? >> that's a good question. i have no idea. i don't know. >> almost no one we asked knew who john boehner was. do you know who this is? most people we asked didn't know who she was. >> i don't know. >> someone who needs botox. >> however, how about this, do you know who this is? >> this is the situation. >> i actually had no clue who this guy is. he's a character on a hot reality show. but many more people knew him than the leaders of congress. >> the situation! >> mike the situation. >> i know that one. i don't know the vice president. >> bill: here now fox business anchor john stossel. but isn't this just a product of tv, people watch these trashy shows so they know who judge judy is and jerry springer.

they don't know boehner. why would you know him? he's not on tv that much. >> okay. but why do we have these campaigns saying, we have to get all the young people to vote? young people often don't know anything. it's not wonderful to go to a rock concert like rock the boat does. >> bill: that's what the political parties i don't think it's just the democrats. i think both parties want people to blindly pull the lever for them. they don't care whether they know anything or not. >> they can want that, but i'm not going to cheer them on. >> bill: so your test would be what? what would you have to do to get thes toking voting approval stamp? >> you implied that i think there ought to be some test, but no. congress, no thank you. just saying let's stop saying everyone should vote. voting is important. >> bill: if you knew somebody who was a total dunnedder head who didn't know anything. would you go up to them and say, you know what, shirley, you shouldn't really go out and vote because you don't know what you're talking about? you don't know anything. would you say that and be as

bold and fresh as that? >> sure. i say it to my smart friends 'cause i live in manhattan and they're all leftists and they want to vote for big government. i don't want them to vote either. >> bill: that's more of a political discussion because you assume these people know who is running the government or whatever. we're talking about the mall zombies who have no idea. they don't know who the vice president is. >> so let them stay in the malls. brain surgery, we don't want everyone doing brain surgery. voting is difficult and important, too. you ought to have some knowledge before you do. >> bill: that's why i oppose the internet voting, 'cause i think you should have enough motivation to get out of your house, go down there, go in that curtain, pull the thing. i don't want the voting on the internet when lenny calls you up and says, you got -- you know. i agree with you. >> i agree. it would be nice if they didn't make you stay in line all day, but that's the government. >> bill: you brought some pictures in to show us. >> this is not new this year. last election i did this. i said to people, who is this? >> bill: that's the good humor

man. >> most people didn't know who biden was. they did know who sarah palin was. >> bill: oh, i'm sorry. just a joke. >> they did not know who ruth bader was. they all knew who this was. >> bill: but judge judy is a syndicated show, a promos. it's kind of like you. they know who you are because you're on tv. they know who i am, so i'm on tv. but, you know, other people that aren't, i wouldn't hold that against them. >> if you're going to vote, you ought to know who joe biden is. >> bill: you ought to know that. would you do me a favor and i want you to go out in front of the -- this is for next week. this is your homework. i want you to go out in front of the building and i want to you stop 20 people under the age of 25 that you visually think are under 25. show them biden's picture and see how many can identify him. >> we did that this time and

most people could. >> bill: what percentage? >> 75%. >> was that under 25? >> that was everyone. >> bill: i want the young people. and the more stoned they look, the better. okay? so we want -- no. that's -- i'm very bad taste. i have to apologize to justice ginsburg. that was a terrible reaction when her picture came up and i'm very sorry. but i want you to do that assignment. >> what will we do with that? >> bill: i'm just curious. get 25 of them and we'll find out how many knew it was biden. i think the audience will know. john stossel. when we come back, the obama administration steps up its assassination efforts against suspected terrorists. is it legal? we'll find out. krauthammer on the growing power of fox news, coming right back.

>> bill: thanks for staying with us. i'm bill o'reilly. two very hot topics. tapping your computer. an assassinating terrorists. here kimberly gillfoil. reports say the obama administration's stepping up this drone missile thing. but here is the deal, now we have an american citizen who is being targeted. they want to wipe him out by these drones and then the aclu is right on it. >> a yemen american cleric who did all this crazy stuff.

the united states nor the c.i.a. is confirming he's being targeted. the aclu is saying you can't be targeting american citizens. >> bill: the guy's father is on board. >> on board with the aclu. >> bill: and he lives in the united states? >> right. and the obama administration just a couple of days ago, friday, said absolutely not. we have under the state secrets right, we have the ability to not tell you when we're targeting somebody. >> bill: okay. does the obama administration have the right to kill people with drone missiles. >> yes. >> bill: under what? >> if the president of the united states and this happened in 2002 with president bush -- if the president signs literally on a death warrant for somebody, they have -- they being the c.i.a., not the military. the c.i.a. drones have the legal -- >> bill: it -- can it be anybody on the face of the earth or that does it have to be a designation first to kill these people with the drones? >> it would have to be with respect to an issue of national

security that this person is committing acts of terrorism against the united states. >> bill: how is that defined? so the president says, look, these people are on the list. is that what he does? >> what the c.i.a. does, and it doesn't happen very often. what the c.i.a. does is they go literally to the president and they have a list of all the things that this person has been charged with and they have all of the -- >> bill: he signs the death warrant? >> yes. and that's perfectly legal. >> bill: it's perfectly legal in this country. >> yes. >> bill: why is the aclu bothering with this? >> they say it should be determined in a court of law and know that the f.b.i.'s presently compiling a case in san diego office against al lackey and they're preparing to perhaps bring an indictment, which would be a separate situation. >> bill: if they indict him, then they can assassinate him. >> then held be afforded -- >> they already told him, they made clear if he would just turn himself in, he would have all

the protections afforded him. >> and he's not going to do that >> bill: of course not. you both agree the president of the united states has the authority under some national security banner. >> correct. >> bill: to assassinate people he feels are dangerous. so michael moore wouldn't fall in that category. right? >> no. careful in your drone. >> they'll sue if they're successful and they do assassinate him, watch, there will be a lawsuit saying he was targeted. >> bill: of course. he doesn't want every anti-terror program. tapping the internet. this gets to be dicey 'cause people don't want their e-mails read and they don't want people monitoring what they do. but the terrorists use now the high-tech gizmos to commit murder. right? >> right. you want to get modern and keep up with them on the internet. >> bill: explain what they do. >> what they do, they're able to

use blackberry devices and the internet, skype, all of the things that we enjoy every day to use for our jobs and for social purposes in a innocent and noncriminal way, they use it to commit acts of terror due to the encription on these devices, we're not able to then penetrate it and what they want to do is say, listen, we need a law and we'll put this in front of congress next year, to make it easier so that we can in fact have the encription key to be able to gain access to information. >> bill: these terrorists send messages to other terrorists to say, kill this person, do that. and it's encrypted right now. >> right. >> bill: and the united states can't break it? >> no. here is the problem. the law is the telecommunications act of 1996, that's a long time ago when you talk about internet. so what the obama administration is saying, congress, we need to update that law to catch up with where we are now. and yes, get those messages that are encrypted because otherwise -- >> bill: will you, a liberal

woman, you are saying you want the government to be able to go in and read everybody's e-mail? >> well, here is the caveat. anything that would happen under this has to be under the wire tap act. so in other words, a judge has to sign off on it, like any other wire tap. >> bill: how is a judge going to sign off on something when it happens so quickly? >> because the judges are ready and they would be under this legislation to be given something quickly, say this is our probable cause for it. sign off or not sign off on it. then give it to the internet provider that has to provide that access. >> bill: so they find out that al-awlaki is on this internet provider, he's doing this, they go in. but they can do that now, can't they? >> the process is too slow now because we want to be able to have the encription. >> bill: you want to do it over the phone? >> you want to be able to do it and get it instantly because time is of the essence. >> bill: how do you do that? call the judge on his blackberry? >> that's what happens. when i was a d.a., you call

judges. >> bill: they have to be judges on 24/7. >> get the information, immediately have the key to unlock, instead of taking the extra step -- >> bill: when you say unlock. that means what? >> the code. >> bill: that's provided by? >> the black berries, like rim technology and that's why other countries in the middle east, and europe have said to black berry, you have this encrypted. if you want to continue to do business here, in india, in the middle east, you're going to have to give our government the ability to get into that encription key. >> bill: or you can't sell your stuff here. >> the other problem is the internet provider, even if they see something, they're looking on their provider systems, they can't turn that over. >> bill: even if they see something. >> exactly. >> bill: but they could drop a dime and say, so and so is doing something, check it out. >> is it legal, yes? is it going to happen? absolutely. it's necessary. it's a matter of national security. >> bill: thank you. up next, the power of fox news. new poll says we're dominating election coverage this year. charles krauthammer has

thoughts. "the factor" invades the jon stewart program last night. we'll show you what happened. you don't want to miss this. right back.

>> bill: not too many media people errorred on the new political. george washington poll that states fox news dominating election coverage in america and i am recognized by half the country as being a positive force in the political debate. we knew the left wing media wouldn't touch that. the entire poll is posted on billoreilly.com. joining us from washington, a man who read the poll, charles krauthammer. what struck you about it? >> well, "the o'reilly factor" struck me. everyone knows you're number one, you're the most influential

and positive, but what i have to tell the american people is that a full 12% of the population, one in eight americans, don't know who you are. that means that whenever you go to a ball game, there is one guy on the field, probably the japanese catcher, who has never heard of you. you know what that means, bill? that means you may be omnipotent. that should humble you. >> bill: most of the people who don't know me are in san francisco and don't have cable. we're going to send producers to do leaflets. >> the fox part is really -- it's almost half the american people. look, i've said for years as a genius of rupert murdoch that they located a niche audience and that is half of the american people. look, what happened with the fox and the reason that the president attacks it again and again obsessively is because it broke the liberal monopoly on the news. the american people, if you want

ed a liberal filter, you go to the other cable station, you go to the big newspapers, go to the news magazines, but if you want it from a different perspective, not through a liberal filter, you come here. that's why it's completely wiped out the competition in cable. >> bill: i asked this question earlier in the program, does mr. obama have a point in saying, listen, this whole network is built upon being negative towards me? that's what the audience wants to hear and that's what they provide. so why shouldn't i criticize that? i don't get a fair shake from these people. >> well, that's a sign of his increasickism. this network existed before he became president of the united states, before anybody ever heard of him. and it presented the news in a way that was different from the herd mentality that takes its instructions from the front page of the "new york times." and because it was different and because it presented it in a different way, that at least half of americans think is more

truthful -- remember, only 20% of americans are liberal. twice that number are conservative and a little less than the conservative the number of moderate. they didn't want to get their news through the filter of an elite -- >> bill: i would tell the president, i'm going to answer my own question here -- that in the run up to the election of 2008, fox news had more critical stories about john mccain than it did about barak obama, or i think it was tied. i mean, it was a very close, as far as us being critical of both candidates. now, you use the word naccissist. how do you know he's that? that's not a good thing to be. that's a person with no feeling for anybody but themselves and will justify everything they do simply because they do it. so i don't know if that's a word we want to casually toss around. >> look, i think if you look at the behavior of obama and the

way he presents himself to the world, let me look at one incident. the speech he gave in berlin when he was running for the presidency, you tell me what that was about. that was the most extraordinary display of yes narcissism i've seen. he's campaigning germany? how many votes does germany have? he was reveling in his adulation of the world and he rode that, rode the charisma that he had and he knows he has into the presidency. and the reason his numbers are low today is because the charisma has worn off and it turns out he's a great speaker, but not a good governor. you saw that in that town hall where remember the woman who got up and said, i was a believer in you. i supported you in 08. i believed in all that you said and stood for and now essentially she said, i've been had. people have woken up and they got a headache. >> bill: all right, charles. we appreciate it. thank you very much.

on deck, pin heads and patriots. "the factor" ventures into the jon stewart venue last night.

>> we show you what happened when i went on the jon stewart program last night. first we're winning down our great tote bag give away. buy a copy of pinheads and patriots, where you stand in the

age of obama on billoreilly.com. you get the tote bag free. and it's a good tote bag. not one of these cheap things. and not too early to get signed books for christmas. this is going to end soon. bernie goldberg has a tote bag and he's the subject of my exclusive interview series for billoreilly.com premium members this week. this is a very hot interview. billoreilly.com premium members. if you are not pm we hope you sign up for the program, you will like it. no time for mail because we want to show you watched on the jon stewart program last night. >> he needs no introduction, yet we are going to give him a nice one night way. hit it my friend. ♪ what a show, what a guest, what a night we've got ♪ he's out of sight ♪ oh, he's sharp as a tack ♪ he's number one ♪ the best of the best ♪ he's bill o'reilly

[ cheers and applause ] >> yes! come and join us. come and join us! >> bill: very well done. >> please, have a seat. okay. have a seat. enjoy. here is my favorite part of the book. when you graded obama pinhead v patriot and you gave him patriot points, energy level, you said he was a patriot. >> bill: good hair cut. >> and you said he was not hugo chavez. hugo chavez. >> right. >> did i read the book? >> no, i gave him high marks for the drone program. he's sending drones to kill al-qaeda. >> anything illegal, you like. >> the drone program is not illegal you aclu sympathizer.

absolutely legal. you showed the book cover you know your book earth and why are we on it. >> is that the name of it? >> if i may. >> okay. >> so there you are, the cover next to colbert. >> no. he did the same joke on factor factor. >> bill: it's planet of the apes. >> he called me and goes, the honky joke? pretty funny. he liked that. will you come to the rally to restore sanity? can i tell you why i want you to come? >> bill: no. >> i want to see if it works. >> bill: look, you and colbert don't want me to come because if i come, then there will be a big crowd you and won't get any credit. so you want to be alone. >> let's let stewart and colbert stand on their own four feet. okay? they don't need me. don't you piggy back on me or beck. you do it on your own. >> you're in real deep now.

if six people show up, i'll be all over you. if you're out there, not for me. not for america. but to make him eat his words. >> pinheads and patriots. bill o'reilly. >> bill: all right. who is a pinhead and who is a patriot in that exchange? of course, you get to make the call. lot of fun. i got to say. stewart, very funny guy and we enjoy when he's here and over there, it works. that is it for us tonight. please check out the fox news factor web site which is different from billoreilly.com. talking points memo this evening posted there, coming late. also we like to spout off -- if you would like to spout off from all over the world, oreilly@foxnews.com. name and town if you wish to opine. please do not be the word of the day. don't be t